Question

I am a PHP newb so please bear with me for this rather simplistic question.

I have a PHP form setup like so >>

<?php
    if($_POST){
        $name = $_POST['name'];
        $email = $_POST['email'];
        $message = $_POST['message'];
        $comments = $_POST['comments'];

        if($comments)
            $error = "There was an error, please give us a call at ### ###-####.";
        else{
            if($name=="Name" || $email=="Email" || $message=="Message"){
                $error = "All fields are required, please fill them out and try again.";
            }else
            $header = "From: $name <$email>";
                $message = "Name: $name\n\nEmail: $email\n\nMessage: $message";
                if(mail("[e-mail]", 'Form Submission', $message, $header))
                    $success = "Thanks for sending us your message, we'll get back to you shortly.";
                else
                    $error = "There was an error, please give us a call at ### ###-####.";
        }
        if($error)
            echo '<div class="msg error">'.$error.'</div>';
        elseif($success)
            echo '<div class="msg success">'.$success.'</div>';
    }
?>

The basic idea is that the form has descriptive text pre-filled in each field but when you click on them they are cleared via Javascript. I want to prevent people from pressing send on the form without filling it out, hence the “if($name==”Name” || $email==”Email” || $message==”Message”){” bit. However while that message is working the form is still submitting. Why is this. Also please note that the “comments” field is in fact a honeypot. Thanks!

Answer 1

Because php is server-side. You need to look into javascript validation for what you want. To validate with php you HAVE to submit the form.

One tutorial but I recommend Jquery validation